ToC #1 03: The Boy Who Does Not Bow

Chapters:

A knight! The knight is in casual-wear, by the way, not uniform.

I find it harder to tell my own story than doing ‘fanfiction’. I think it’s a given that it’s harder. I mean, to tell a story in fanfiction you have all these difficult things already laid out, and if the reader approaches them you can safely assume they already know about the world and the events in it. The trick, I find, in writing original works is that you can’t start by telling the reader ‘this is what you need to know’, nor can you pretend they already know everything (Read: Final Fantasy XIII. What a mess that was!). You have to layer on what they can assume about the world, and what you’re doing differently. Think about Harry Potter, for example. There are many assumptions the reader can make about the wizarding world even from the first book, and she lets you keep them, slowly adding more complexity, teaching us about new spells and rules and places (I’m talking more about the books than the movies, as the movies are definitely directed at those who read the books).

You have to strike a fine balance between telling the reader “This is how this world works in every aspect” and pulling an FFXIII where nothing is explained well enough for anyone to follow the plot unless (in a game) you go and read the stupid backstory no wants to read (in a game!). Don’t get me wrong, I like games with backstories and reading materials where the world is richer than what it appears on the surface, but to actually explain what the hell is going on with the characters you’re playing at the moment.

It was a beautiful game, but none of the characters were relateable (maybe Hope was, but don’t get me started on him), but a game where they concentrate more about the graphics than making you care about why the hell these guys are doing anything cannot be considered a good game in my book.

…That was a bit of a rant. I’m a hobbiest writer and storyteller, and I’m a game designer by trade and education. So at the very least I have a lot of opinions about these things!

See ye Thursday with another page of Tale of Love, and I hope to have a good picture of my Halloween party to post, but I make no promises.

What is Seraphim?

Seraphim is TWO interconnected stories happening in two different times in history.
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Tale of Courage updates Tuesdays, and Tale of Love updates Thursdays.